Page 30 of Game Over

Beside me, Jesse went down after a well-placed plasma cannon hit him clear in the face.

“Fuck,” Charlie hissed at my back. “My reload animation keeps glitching.”

It took everything I had not to look back at him. Even in game he was a distraction. The alpha that’d haunted my dreams for months after my stay at the Omega’s Lust, never to be heard from again.

I wanted to talk to Jesse about it. To tell him that Charlie—dweeb of eternity, as my boyfriend affectionately called him—was Mr. Heat Hotel.

And to ask him what he wanted to do about it, if anything.

“Stuck?” I asked, going to fire again with a hideous click that warned I was out of bullets. “Fuck, I’m out. Give me yours.”

I put my hand back expectantly, but it was no use, one of the hard to kill large purple aliens forcing its massive shoulders through the cracked doorway one at a time, its long black tongue tasting the air for us.

I scrambled backwards past Charlie, looking for a place to hide. Luckily there was just enough space under the covered stairs for me to squeeze into, covering my mouth with my hand to try and quiet my gasping breaths.

It was so fucking hot with this stupid headset on that I couldn’t breathe, Charlie’s scent sitting heavy in the back of my throat with every inhale threatening to pull me out of my hiding spot and into his lap.

The alien bore down on his hiding spot and I opened my menu, sifting through for anything useful.

Bingo.

Crouchedbehind the ruined remains of a kitchen table, I tried desperately to reload and fix whatever issue I was having. With Jesse down, and Tara holed up under the stairs with no ammo, I was the last line of defense before it was curtains for all of us.

I banged the gun on the ground and finally a reload began, the animation still playing as the pounding steps of one of the creatures approached.

I was trapped, and even if I could move, there was no guarantee I’d be able to hit hard enough to kill the creature bearing down on me.

The game over screen was fast approaching, and I’d accepted it, just briefly closing my eyes. Logically, I knew this was just a game, but it was so visceral I couldn’t help but flinch as the banded floor beneath me quivered.

Any second now the monster would turn its head and I’d be toast. A bunch of deleted pixels until I was able to spawn back in.

Though as I waited, I heard Tara shout—the words lost as the creature roared. I knew it was no use, she wouldn’t make it in time, but I opened my eyes to watch her final play, hoping to catch a big heroic moment.

As I did, I felt impact, not in game, but in real life. On instinct I dropped the gun, cradling the small body that’d just launched into my arms.

I was so disoriented from the game I stumbled, overbalancing and landing on the ground with a grunted ‘oof’.

Cherry and lime exploded in my nose, coating everything like a blanket. Gone was the whisper I’d caught before the game, Tara’s scent sweeter and more pungent. A complete assault on my senses.

Something I’d only ever experienced once before.

When she was in heat.

I threw my headset off, my head swimming with vertigo as I blinked back into the small, dimly lit room. “Are you okay?”

Tara’s breathing was heavy as her own headset came off, ruffling her hair. The action spread her scent even more, a veritable cloud of tangy candy encircling us as she looked up at me with wide eyes. Her body was warm, overly so, sweat dewing along her face and dampening the back of her dress as I cradled her to me.

“I—I’m fine,” she choked out, voice barely above a whisper.

Her pupils were blown, cheeks flushed as she licked her lips, gaze dipping to my mouth, mere inches from hers.

My cock was rock solid, pressing against the zipper of my pants uncomfortably where her ass ground down into me—but that wasn’t something I should be thinking about. Not when I could consider that despite the laser precision with which I could remember the way Tara’s lips felt wrapped around my cock, I had no idea what it was like to kiss her.

Charlie, fuck, focus. Don’t think about that either!

“Are you both okay?” Jesse asked, scrubbing a hand through his hair to loosen his curls, flattened by the headset. “You hit him real hard.”

The beta made a move to catch Tara’s arm, aiming to help her out of my hold, but my hand shot out to smack his fingers away instinctively, keeping my omega pulled firmly against my chest.

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